[Tfug] Small-ish (capacity + size) disk alternatives

[Bender]

LOL - a Bexley boondoggle..?
What follows below is my reply to this thread back on 1/30. But after seeing 
threads like one this turn into sticky goo previously, I reconsidered then.

WRT to Tyler, John, Nathan and the others -- Is it as though he already 
knows the answer? If so, why does he engage in this? As one who tells us he 
does this professionally, is he just stirring the pot, or what?

----- Original Message ----- 
From: "Bexley Hall" <bexley401 at yahoo.com>
To: "Tucson Free Unix Group" <tfug at tfug.org>
Sent: Monday, January 28, 2013 10:46 PM
Subject: [Tfug] Small-ish (capacity + size) disk alternatives


> Hi,
>
> My home automation/multimedia system relies on a single
> smallish (20-30G) disk for "read only" (i.e., binaries)
> storage as well as "bulk" read-write memory (i.e., 30G
> of RAM would be costly, bulky and power hungry -- and
> far faster than necessary).
>
> Currently, I've been using small laptop drives.  They
> don't see much use (thrashing, etc.) but are spinning
> 365/24/7.
>
> It appears this is not the way they like to operate
> (i.e., they seem to die pretty easily).  Heat shouldn't
> be a problem -- enclosures are cool and well ventilated.
> I'm just guessing they don't like running "forever"
> with no chance to spin down (or off).
>
> So, what alternatives do I have to replace them?



You could also rethink your architecture choices.

Ostensibly, this platform has outscaled its initial parameters.

With what you have you could set it to sleep during periods of non/low-use.
But for home automation, you might not care to wait 5 seconds for the disk
to spin up and then wait for it to wake up.

If the SSD idea doesn't peak, it's time to ditch the high level software and
go low level software and/or specialized hardware.